Campbell 'feels sharper' after netting under-23 double

Chem Campbell was pleased to have got back among the goals following a difficult period of suspension and illness as his brace for Wolves under-23s saw off Sunderland.

The winger – who has regularly featured among Bruno Lage’s first-team substitutes during the 2021/22 Premier League season – was playing just his second match for the development side since his sending off against West Bromwich Albion at Molineux in early November, and he marked the occasion by finding the back of the net twice, as the under-23s came from behind to overcome the Black Cats and secure a first win in two months for the team.

On first win of the year

“It was a good result. It’s always important [to win] because with the group, with the talent we’ve got, we’re always trying to push for the play-offs, and the win tonight obviously helped with that.

“I haven’t played for a while myself, as I was suspended and then I was ill for three weeks, and on top of that I got Covid as well.

“So last week I was just trying to get into the speed of the game, get myself back up to tempo and I thought I did that today. I felt sharper and happy to help with the two goals.”

On the pressure of being around the first-team squad

“There’s always eyes; the coaches from the first-team, the scouts, so I’m just trying to play my best and help the team like I did today, with the goals.

“I want goals, assists – I got an assist last week, two goals today, so I just want to play well and help the team.”

On scoring a brace

“On pitches like this, you can’t always score the perfect goal. With the first one, I actually mis-hit it to start with and then luckily it fell back to me and I smashed it in.

“The second one, I just reacted quicker than the defender and tapped it home.”

On pressing higher as the game progressed

“We talked about it at the start of the game to go a bit longer and sit off slightly and let the centre-backs have it, but we thought towards the end of the game we can go a bit higher.

“I just think with the second goal, we pressed more and we got the goal.”

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Campbell reflects on double versus Sunderland